Newly Ordained Priests

Six men ordained to the priesthood exemplify interculturality.

Most Rev. Robert Lombardo CFR, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, ordained six Divine Word Missionaries at Holy Child Jesus Church in Chicago on Saturday. In his homily, Bishop Lombardo elaborated on Pope Francis’s analogy of the field hospital and called upon the missionary priests to be cardiologists.

“Many people in our day and age have a broken heart,” Bishop Lombardo said. “People are dealing with the unexpected—sometimes the tragic death of a child. They’re dealing with tension in the family. They’re dealing with job loss.”

He continued, “All of us are dealing with a world that is experiencing war. The list of causes of heart disease are innumerable, and so we need to take care of the heart of our people with compassion, great love and tenderness.”

He asked Fathers Betenora Bako Liba SVD, Christian Castro SVD, Cruz Enrique Colunga SVD, John Hyun Cho SVD, Martin Herrera SVD and Tin Trung Vu SVD to build up the Catholic Church by imitating Christ.

Father Bako Liba, 30, Born in Togo, participated in his parish’s vocations group as a youth.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in epistemology and philosophy of science from Institut supérieur de Philosophie et des Sciences Humaines (ISPSH) Don Bosco in Lomé, he joined the Society of the Divine Word. He completed his novitiate in Togo and was sent to the United States for theology. Father Bako Liba fulfilled his Cross-Cultural Training Program (CTP) in Brazil. While completing his studies at Catholic Theological Union (CTU) in Chicago, he served Our Lady of Africa parish as a transitional deacon. Father Bako Liba will remain in the Chicago Province for his first assignment, serving in Epworth, Iowa.

Father Castro, 32, the youngest of four children, emigrated from Mexico to Southern California as a child.

He named the pastor at his family’s parish in San Diego as his first priestly role model. With his sights on being a priest, he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in counseling and social change from San Diego State University.

He entered the Society of the Divine Word novitiate in 2017 and fulfilled his CTP in Brazil. He graduated from CTU in 2024 and served Holy Family parish in Houston, Texas, as a transitional deacon. For his first assignment, he will go to Mozambique. 

Father Colunga, 33, the third of his parents’ six children, was born in Mexico.

He moved to the United States with his parents when he was 12. As a high school student, he worked part time with his father in construction. After high school, he attended Lee College in Baytown, Texas, before transferring to Divine Word College in Epworth and earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He entered novitiate at Techny in 2018 and fulfilled his CTP in Brazil. 

Father Colunga graduated from CTU in 2024 and went to St. Peter parish in Pine Bluff, Ark., as a transitional deacon. Father Colunga has been assigned to the Chicago Province and will serve at St. Joseph the Worker in Wheeling, Ill.

Father Cho, 45, the younger of his parents’ two children, was born in South Korea and immigrated to California.

He graduated from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Calif., with a bachelor’s degree in electronics and computer engineering technology. Before joining the Society of the Divine Word, he worked as a civil engineering plan designer and drafter.

Father Cho became acquainted with the congregation through the Divine Word Retreat Center in Riverside, Calif. He entered novitiate in 2017, fulfilled his CTP in Bolivia and graduated from CTU. He has been assigned to the Italy Province. 

Father Herrera, 43, a Chicago native, had been active in his parish since his youth.

Father Herrera e had not heard of the Society of the Divine Word until a vocation director approached him. At the time, he was a manager for a large office supply corporation. In 2014, he enrolled in Divine Word College in Epworth and entered novitiate at Techny in 2017.

For his CTP, he served as a missionary Bolivia. As a transitional deacon, he served Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in San Diego. For his first assignment, he is assigned to the Southern Province and will serve St. John the Evangelist parish in Gulfport, Miss.

Father Tin Vu, 39, was born in Vietnam, the elder of his parents’ two sons.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Lạc Hồng University in Biên Hòa City, Dong Nai, Vietnam. Originally, he studied to be a diocesan priest but joined the Society of the Divine Word in Vietnam in 2014 and professed vows in 2016. 

In 2018, he began studying philosophy and pre-theology at Divine Word College and fulfilled CTP in the Appalachia District. As a transitional deacon, he served Queenship of Mary parish in Joliet, Ill. This spring, he graduated from CTU. His first assignment is with the Western Province, where he will work at Wordnet Productions and serve St. Anthony parish in San Bernardino, Calif.

Their diverse backgrounds and missionary journeys reflect the rich interculturality at the heart of the Society of the Divine Word’s commitment to serving the global Church.

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